Housing for sprinkler-heads



G. C. RAMSEY.

HOUSING FOR SPRINKLER HEADS. APPLICATION FILED 00131, 1919.

1,331,277. Patented Feb. l7, 1920.

UVVENTOR.

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFIG GROVER C. RAMSEY, OF GASTONIA,NORTH CAROLINA.

HOUSING FOR SPRINKLER-HEADS.

Application filed October 31, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Groves-G. Ramsey, acitizen of the United States, residing at Gastonia, in the county ofGaston and State of North Carolina, have invented ceitain new and usefulImprovements in Housings for Sprinkler-Heads, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to fire extinguishing devices, and moreparticularly to automatic sprinkler heads.

While in many of its aspects the invention is highly useful in otherrelations, it is especially designed for the protection of cottonspinning machinery of the picker room type, such as openers, breakers,pickers, and the like.

. It frequently happens that the cotton passing through such machinestakes fire, either as a result of a spark struck by the beater, due tothe presence of foreign material in the cotton, or from some othercause, and it is therefore highly desirable to install automaticsprinkler heads in the machines themselves. However, attempts tointroduce a sprinkler head into the chamber of the machines haveresulted in the clogging or lodgment of the cotton fibers on the head tosuch an extent as to produce an obj ectionable thin streak in the batbeing formed.

One object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a housingso shaped as to incl'ose or shield the. sprinkler head, and thus preventlodgment of the cotton thereagainst, while at the same time permittingthe effective escape of water in case of fire.

Another object is to shorten the time be tween the breaking out of thefire and the opening of the sprinkler head, and to this end I propose toconstruct the housing partly of highly inflammable semi-explosivematerial. The burning of this material serves to quickly melt thefusible link of the sprinkler head, while at the same time, thedestruction of that part of the housing formed of such material permitsthe free escape of water.

In order that the invention may be readily understood, reference is hadto the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, and inwhich Figures 1 and 2 are fragmentary conventional sectional views of acotton breaker showing my invention applied thereto;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of my improved Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Feb. 17, 1920. SerialNo. 334,660.

housing showing a sprinkler head in position therein;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation thereof;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section through the housing, the sprinkler headand pipe being shown in elevation; and

'6' is a rear elevation 'of the housing alone.

Referring to the drawings in detail, A designates the chamber or casingof cotton opener, breaker, picker, or similar machine, through which a.stream of cotton fiber is caused to flow by means of air currents. Bdesignates the beater and C the feed rolls for delivering cotton to thebeater. D designates the rotary screens 011 which the cotton isdeposited and through which air is caused to flow by means of an exhaustfan (not shown). The loose cotton fiber, broken up by the beater, iscarried by the air currents in the direction of the arrow, andsubstantially fills the casing, as indicated at 3 A sprinkler headinclosed in my improved housing may advantageously be placed in any oneof several different positions within the casing A. It may be located onthe under side of the upper wall adjacent the window E, as indicated inFig. 1 at 50, or it may be mounted directly on the frame of this window.Instead of locating the sprinkler head on the upper wall it may bemounted on one of the side walls, as shown in Fig. 2.

My improved housing, forming the subject matter of the presentinvention, comprises a flat rear wall 1, slotted at 2 so as to fit overthe Water pipe to which the sprinkler head is connected. The housing isprovided with a semi-cylindrical or curved front wall 3, and with abeveled or inclined end wall 4:, disposed at an acute angle to the backwall 1, and intersecting the front wall at an angle as shown in Figs. tand 5. The end of the housing opposite the wall l is left open.

At the side edges of the rear wall 1 are provided grooves formed bypairs of spaced Ofi'standing flanges 5 and within these grooves areremovably held the edges of a sheet 6 of celluloid or similarinflammable impervious material. This sheet is bowed, as shown in Fig.3, to conform to the shape of the curved wall 3, and its end preferablyfits within and under such wall, as illustrated in F ig. 5. The walls 1,3 and 4t are preferably formed of sheet metal, and these,

of a water pipe 9'whichextends through the slot 2.

In order to hasten the meltin of the fusi'ble link 8' in case of fire, Ipreferably pro- I vide clips 10, in which are mounted one or more strips11 of inflammable material, such ,ascelluloid, thesejstrip's beingdisposed adjacent and preferably in contact with the fusible link. Thesestrips, being of a highly inflammable nature, become quickly ignited andthus melt the fusible link and release the sprinkler valve. 1

In whatever part of the -.casing .A the sprinkler head is mounted," it'is essential that the inclined or beveled end a of the housing bedisposed in the direction from vhich the cotton laden air currents flow,

and that the semi-cylindrical body of the nousing extend in a directionsubstantially parallel with such flow. When mounted in this way it willbe apparent that the stream of cotton fibers can readily glide over thebeveled or inclined end 4, and thus pass by and around the housingwithout clogging, the open end of the housing being directed away fromsuch stream.

Upon the occurrence of fire within the casing 1 the inflammable sheet 6of celluloid or the like becomes immediately ignited, and the heat fromthis burning celluloid, either alone or assisted by the heat from theburning strips 11, very quickly melts the fusible ling 8 and releasesthe sprinkler valve. The sheet 6, serving as it does to form a. partof'the housing, would normally act as a barrier to prevent the free escapeof water from the sprinkler head; the burning. of this sheet, however,destroys such barrier and permits .water from the sprinkler headto befreely sprayed to all parts of the casing. Thus the ignition of thecelluloid sheet serves the double purpose of melting the fusible linkandsimultaneouslyremoving a portion of the housing. c

It will be understood that the rear wall 1' lies flat against the wallof the casing A, and that the slot 2 therein is thereby closed.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a device which will make itpossible to effectively mount sprinkler heads within the casings ofcotton machinery, and directly in the path ofthe cottouladen air streamsWithout interfering with the flow of the cotton, and have 5 providedmeans for greatly reducing the' time interval between the outbreak ofthe fire and the release of the sprinkler valve, and-it is thought thatthe many advantages of my invention will: be readily appreciated withoutfurther discuss on. r 7 7 What I claim is 1. The combination with asprinkler head having a fusible element, of a housing per- ,manentlyinclosing said head and. fusible element, said housing comprising asheet of combustlble-=mater1al adapted to be con- .sumed bv theoccurrence of fire, prior to the melting of-said fusible element.

2. The combination with a sprinkler head,

having a fusible element, of can impervious hous ng nclosing the same,said housmg be" ing composed partlyof semi-explosive :.material. V F 3.The combination witha; sprinklerhead, of an impervious housing inclosingthe same, said housing being composed in part of a sheet of. celluloid.

4. The combination with a sprinkler head, of an impervious housingsurrounding the same,.said'housing being formedpartly of sheet metal andpartly of celluloid. 1

5. The combination with a chamber containing combustible particles insuspension, of a sprinkler head insaid chamber, .anda housing for saidsprinkler head havingan inclosing wall' formed of material more highlyinflammable than said particles.

6. The combinationwith a sprinkler head, of an impervious housingsurrounding the same, said housing having grooves,v and a sheet ofinflammable material removably formed partly of a sheet of celluloid.

9. The combination with a sprinkler head, of a housing therefor having aHat back wall, a semi-cylindrical front wall, and a fiatinclinedend'wall extending from said back" wall across said cylindricalfront wall 'at an angle thereto."

In testimony whereof I .affixmysignature. -GR OVER G. RAMSEY.

